Boyfriend Shopping: Shopping for My Boyfriend / My Only Wish / All I Want for Christmas Is You. Earl Sewell

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       one

      It was early Friday evening and a wintry November wind baptized my face with its coolness. I hustled across an illuminated parking lot arm in arm with my friend Lauren Alexis. We had come to hear the choir and band perform at the annual Thornwood High School holiday concert. When we reached the building, I attempted with all my might to pull open the heavy metal door at the auditorium entrance, but a blast of wind snatched the door from my hand and slammed it shut.

      “Come on, Anna. It’s freezing out here.” Lauren’s breath formed cloudy white puffs of air that lingered like steam from a hot bowl of soup. I vigorously tugged on the door against the unforgiving pressure of the wind. Once I was able to pry it open wide enough, I pivoted my body, got on the other side and leaned into it with my shoulder.

      “Go ahead,” I said, feeling my eyes tearing. Once Lauren was in, I trailed behind her, smearing away the wetness on my cheeks with my mittens.

      “I have never been in weather like this.” Lauren’s cheeks had turned crimson and her shoulders had risen up toward her earlobes.

      “You can relax now. We’re inside and you’ll warm up in no time.”

      “Relax? Are you freaking kidding me? When we leave we’ve got to face that frigid air again. I can’t believe how cold it is outside.”

      “Oh, it can get much colder than this.” I smirked. “Wait until it drops below zero.” This was Lauren’s first experience with the Chicago winter weather. She was from South Carolina, where the temperature stayed relatively mild. She’d transferred into the school a few weeks ago and, like me, was in her second year of high school. She and I both modeled and had recently met through the agency we worked for. Lauren was tall, thin and wore a size four. She had a cute smile, beautiful white teeth and an infectious personality. She had also managed to catch the interest of Sheldon, one of the cutest guys in school. He was handsome and a little shy, but Lauren’s outgoing personality balanced out his reserve. My romantic life was in the dump and the time had come for me to move past my most recent failure and give a new relationship a try.

      “I don’t know if I can take this weather. I feel like my bones have iced over.” Lauren hugged herself in an attempt to heat back up her body.

      “You’ll get used to it,” I assured her. I saw my reflection in the glass of a painting that hung on the wall and straightened the red-and-white Santa hat I had on. I wanted my look to perfectly complement the festive mood I was in. My hat matched well with my Christmas green turtleneck and blue jeans. Lauren, whose favorite color was pink, had fashionably dressed up in a pair of jeans from Delia’s, a pink sweater and a matching pink-and-white Santa hat. She had on a garnet-colored toggle coat but she had forgotten her gloves.

      “I can’t believe how frozen my fingers are.” Lauren cupped her hands and blew her warm breath into her palms.

      “You shouldn’t have left your gloves at home. Even though it’s only a ten-minute walk from your house to here, it can feel a lot longer in this weather. You can get some hot chocolate from the concession stand. The heat from the cup should warm your fingers up quickly,” I said.

      “Well, let’s go get some,” she said as we continued down the corridor to a table where a volunteer was waiting to take our tickets.

      “Did you remember the tickets, Anna?” Lauren asked.

      “Of course.” I snapped open the small purse I had carried with me. I presented our tickets and we were allowed to continue onward. We made our way over to the concession stand and Lauren ordered a hot chocolate with marshmallows like I had suggested. She took a quick sip of the warm liquid and I could tell by the way she sighed that it immediately made her feel better.

      “I hope Jeremy comes like he said he would.” I searched the hallway, which was becoming more crammed with concertgoers.

      “Well, if he isn’t, you can catch up with him next week.”

      “No. I need to catch him tonight. The school holiday dance party is just around the corner and I need to make sure he understands that he needs to ask me to go with him,” I remarked as I scanned the area again.

      “I hope Jeremy is nice and nothing like that Carlo dude you told me about.”

      “Please don’t bring him up. I don’t even remember what I saw in that guy. Falling in love with him nearly killed me, literally.” The moment I tried to forget about Carlo, my conscience replayed the events in my mind, like a video that reminded me of the bad choice I had made. It began with the difficult time I had with the transition from junior high to high school. I had gone from being popular and the class valedictorian to the cute but nerdy freshman girl who no one noticed. I had trouble making friends and fitting in, and it didn’t take long for depression to settle in. My grades started falling, which disappointed my parents and caused problems for me at home because I wasn’t living up to their expectations. Then my cousin Viviana came to live with us, adding all types of new and unexpected tension in the house. In the middle of the chaos is when Carlo entered my life. He was an upperclassman and I felt fortunate to have an older guy take an interest in me. I didn’t have a clue as to how relationships were supposed to work. Heck, I wasn’t even supposed to be dating as a freshman. My parents said that I couldn’t date until my second year of high school, so I knew very little about romance except what I saw on television. I didn’t know what to say to guys or how to act around them. When Carlo СКАЧАТЬ